Frances Hunter
blog of the author To the Ends of the Earth
Frances Hunter's Journal
August 2005
August 31, 2005: New Orleans
The situation in New Orleans and Mississippi is as bad as it can be. Please make a donation if you can. We support the Red Cross; if you don't like the Red Cross, any newspaper or news website will have a list of other organizations sending help. Even five dollars will help buy soap, dry clothes, and hot food for the poor souls made homeless by this storm, and help them find safe places to live until they can get their lives back together.
All of us as individuals can help with the human toll. Only big federal money can rebuild the infrastructure that has been destroyed by Katrina. We as history lovers are also breathless for the fate of the historic treasures of the city and the Mississippi coast. Civil War Interactive has an excellent round-up of the historic sites that have been damaged or are endangered by Katrina and the aftermath. So far the most well-known casualty is the Biloxi home of Jefferson Davis, which is reported to be totally destroyed.
The Times-Picayune reports that as of late Tuesday, the French Quarter was still mostly dry and largely intact. Hope was held out as well for historic Uptown and for the New Orleans Zoo, which is on the highest ground in the city.
August 29, 2005: The City that Care Forgot
God speed to New Orleans today, one of the most special cities in America.
In our novel, New Orleans is the setting for much of the action with the book's villain, the traitorous General James Wilkinson. As we discovered in our research, a visitor from 1809 would find nothing familiar in St. Louis or Memphis, but would quickly recognize New Orleans.
New Orleans has survived a lot and will be back from Katrina. Here are some links about historic New Orleans:
- A Great and Growing City: New Orleans at the Time of the Louisiana Purchase (note: this link is from the New Orleans Public Library and was down as of 8:30 a.m. CDT, doubtless due to Katrina's wrath)
- Jean Lafitte: Gentleman Pirate of New Orleans
- The Nostalgic New Orleans Collection
From the novel:
Life was all about departures, James Wilkinson reflected. As his carriage bounced along the muddy street toward the levee, the colorful scene unfolding outside the open window filled him with bittersweet emotion. In this wonderful place, he'd at last found a home for his restless and wandering spirit. Silently, he enumerated the city's charms as she rolled past his window: the wrought-iron galleries and mansard roofs, the rich aroma of coffee and confections, the lively peddlers from Saint Domingue plying their wares, the slave pens with their ebony merchandise, the buskers and hustlers, the Creoles and clowns, the decadence, the elegance, the sordidness, the money--
Ah! His throat caught. How long would it be before he gazed upon his beloved city again?
August 25, 2005: A-maize-ing William Clark
Through Halloween, the "Pumpkin Patch" in Sauvie Island, Oregon, is offering a swell maze that looks like William Clark.
Free Blacks
There are two major black characters in To the Ends of the Earth. One is York, the now-famous African-American manservant of William Clark. York was born into slavery with the Clark family, and it's documented in William Clark's letters that he began to agitate for his freedom after their return from the Expedition. The other black character is John Pernia, Lewis's manservant. Not much is known about the real John Pernia. Lewis's sister, at least, suspected him of taking a hand in her brother's mysterious death. For the purposes of our novel, we decided to have him be a New Orleans-born free man of mixed race. The tension between York and Pernia adds another layer of conflict to the story.
There were a fair number of free blacks in America in 1809. For one thing, the United States had only recently bought Louisiana, where there were a lot of people just like Pernia--the sons and daughters of French men and African women. These people were born into freedom and, though not considered the social equals of whites, often served in responsible positions in the community. Thomas Jefferson expressed a great deal of concern about how the U.S. was going to assimilate these free blacks.
Even within the more established areas of the United States, there were more free blacks than you might think. Quite a few slaves were freed between 1790 and 1810. These manumissions were motivated partly by religious reasons, but economics played a large role. Farm production was getting more efficient, requiring less labor. At the same time, most slaves lived in a family-type situation, not on huge plantations, and enjoyed pretty good health for themselves and their children. Planters didn't have work for an increasing number of slaves, so they began to free them.
To prevent indigent African-Americans from simply being turned loose, states and territories passed laws that required a master who wanted to free his slaves to provide training for the slaves to make a living and set them up in business. Thus, freeing slaves became a rather expensive proposition. Eventually, when York was freed, William Clark and his family help set him up with a wagon and freight-hauling business.
The evolution of blacks towards freedom was undone when the cotton gin was invented. The demand for slaves skyrocketed as slavery entered its mass production phase.
Go here to read more about free blacks in early America. It's important to note that freedom didn't mean equality. Free blacks faced many restrictions on what they could do. This is embodied in our novel by the frustration and anger of Pernia and his conflict with the desperate but decent York.
"Pernia, shut your damn smart mouth," York snapped. He swung himself down, secured the horses, and began putting the blocks under the wheels to keep the wagon from rolling. Pernia climbed down and lounged against the wagon.
"You shouldn't talk to me that way, York," Pernia said. "Remember the slave code. You wouldn't want your master to whip you again for your bad attitude."
York swung the portmanteau down from the wagon and threw it on the ground at Pernia's feet. "You so damn proud of bein' free! What d'ye ever do with it, or any of your wages, except drink and whore around the riverfront?"
August 23, 2005: Montana and Idaho Journey
The complete account of our Montana and Idaho journey is now up on its own page.
Did They Pray?
A fascinating new article by Joe Mussulman over on the Discovering Lewis & Clark site discusses the religious aspects of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Mussulman points out that on the surface, religion didn't seem to be very important to the Corps of Discovery. No chaplain was part of the Corps, and the discoverers never make mention of the Sabbath. The only religious holiday ever mentioned in the journals is Christmas, and it seems to have been celebrated entirely with secular traditions such as feasting (as best they could), dancing, and firing off their guns. There is no instance in which Lewis or Clark records that the men stood together in prayer or asked for the help of God or Jesus in their journey. The journals do record that a sermon was preached, probably by Meriwether Lewis, over the body of Charles Floyd, the young sergeant who died of a burst appendix early in the journey.
Mussulman goes beyond the journals to discuss what would have been the major spiritual influences on the men of the Corps. First of all was the Great Revival or Second Great Awakening, an evangelical movement that had swept the South in the few years prior to the Expedition. Undoubtedly some or all of the men would have been touched by the huge camp meetings that spread the gospel with fervent emotion and audience participation. At least one man, Alexander Willard, was known by his fellows to be deeply religious. The other young man were probably thunderstruck when they learned that Willard had vowed to remain chaste outside of marriage. True to his word, he did not join in with the other men in sexual escapades with the Indians.
As for the captains themselves, they were Deists. Deism was the primary religion of the Founding Fathers. It is a religious tradition that emerged in light of the scientific advances of the 18th century, and combines belief in a Supreme Being (usually referred to as "providence" rather than "God") with belief in reason and the power of the rational mind. Nature, rather than the scriptures, is the primary source of inspiration for a Deist.
When working on Ends, we did some reflection on the spirituality of our characters, and it emerged in several key passages for both Lewis and Clark, as they face their moments of most extreme crisis in the book. Meriwether Lewis has entered a desperate downward spiral that has led him to flee his demons and try to escape over the Natchez Trace, known to history as the Devil's Backbone. Is it any wonder that Lewis finds his mind turning to the spiritual, as in this passage:
Lewis felt the fever chipping away at his self-control. Cold water trickled down the back of his neck; he jumped when Seaman's nose touched his cheek. Despite the chill, he felt unbearably warm. Sweat ran down his body inside his filthy green coat.
He unclenched his jaws long enough to ask: "N-Neelly...d-do you believe in God?"
Neelly looked out on the desolate night and laughed a little. "What would make you ask me a thing like that?"
"I don't know." Lewis shivered. "I j-just wondered."
"Oh, Gov'ner...I don't know, really. I used to." Neelly sighed. "Then I lost my little girl...and it just seemed like there was no reason for it." He picked up a wet leaf and ran it through his fingers. "After that, I didn't see much reason to believe in God anymore. I guess it's hard to believe in somebody who would take a man's child, just to be cruel."
Lewis was quiet, thinking about this for a while. Finally he said, "Neelly, I'm sincerely sorry for your pain. I haven't any children myself, so I can't imagine how that would feel." He clamped his jaws shut a while to stop the chattering, then continued, "S-sometimes I think that God deliberately puts obstacles in our path, to give us the opportunity to show Him our best selves." He snorted. "Not that I would know much about that."
"Lord, me neither," Neelly said. "I don't know why God would bother."
"I'm guess I'm the opposite of you, Neelly." Lewis didn't know why he felt the need to talk, but he kept on. "I never used to think God cared, much. He was just the architect--the impersonal Creator. At least, that's what Jefferson always said."
"Well, he oughta know," Neelly said.
"I'm not so s-sure." Lewis closed his eyes for a moment, trying desperately to ward off the return of excruciating chills. "Jefferson believes God just left us here, and that it's foolish to pray for his assistance. But N-Neelly, I can tell you, there have been times when I did directly ask God for help...and he helped me."
William Clark, a practical and less reflective man, probably hasn't spent as much time as Lewis considering philosophical matters. Yet when Clark's back is against the wall, he finds himself praying to the God of his childhood:
Clark had never been much of a praying man. But now a memory came to him, himself a small boy, kneeling beside his mother on a smooth plank floor. With ten children in the family, it wasn't nearly as clean as Tom Runion's. His mother was praying fervently for her sons in the Continental Army, gripping little Billy against her warm soft body. He couldn't remember the words she used, just the way he'd squirmed and offered his own secret prayer that God would find a place for him in the war too, deliver him from his terrible fate as the baby son, too young to fight and die.
No, that was wrong. He did remember something from his mother's long-ago prayer.
Defend us from all perils and dangers in this night
As he and York wound their way through the woods back to the Trace, Clark offered up these words again and again.
Speaking of York, we had quite a discussion about York's spirituality. According to Ira Berlin's book Many Thousands Gone, at the turn of the 18th/19th century, only about ten percent of slaves had become Christians. This would skyrocket during the Second Great Awakening. We decided that it wasn't any more likely that York would be a devout Christian than that his master, William Clark, was. If religion was important to him at all, he probably combined fading remnants of African belief with some tenets of Christianity.
Moreover, it seemed such a cliche to have York be a fount of spiritual wisdom. All too many books and movies relegate African-Americans to standing on the sidelines and dispensing enlightenment. In the end, York's beliefs didn't come into play with his characterization. Like Lewis and Clark (and most everyone else), York simply muddles along, trying to be a good person in spite of the circumstances he faces.
August 18, 2005: Monture Creek and Camp Disappointment
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Mary and Liz at the buffalo jump at Camp Disappointment |
Happy birthday, Lewis!
Our last day in Montana! Our first stop was Monture
Creek, known to L&C as Seaman's Creek after Lewis's dog. Gary talked
some about Seaman and evidence that the dog had gone on to live with Clark
and his family after Lewis' death just four years after the expedition.
Much of what we learned here today became the basis for the characterization
of Seaman in Ends.
Today we had the most driving of the entire trip. We got to see a lot of
little towns and the changes in the landscape from mountains and forest
to rolling hills and (seemingly) featureless plains. If you ever wondered
where Wheaties are born, wonder no more. Wheat fields as far as the eye
could see. We had a picnic lunch in Chouteau next to a General Mills elevator.
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Camp Disappointment |
The big event of the day was Camp
Disappointment, a remote site on the Blackfoot Indian reservation almost
to the Canadian border. Lewis named the site "Disappointment"
because he ventured there with a small party hoping to find that the Marias
River flowed in such a way as to expand the territory gained by the Louisiana
Purchase. He was unsuccessful. It was also here that the only fatal encounter
between the Corps of Discovery and the Indians took place. Lewis and his
men got into a scrap with some young Blackfoot men and killed two of them.
They were lucky to escape with their lives. It seems clear that Lewis made
a serious error in judgment in dividing the Corps into small groups. He
made his party vulnerable to attack, leading to an avoidable tragedy.
We made the long trek back to Great Falls. Reflecting upon the trip, I was
truly struck by the open, friendly nature of the people we met in Montana
and Idaho. They were so enthusiastic about sharing their connections and
knowledge about Lewis & Clark. They also seemed interested in us and
our reasons for visiting. It seems that the population here is small enough
and the pace unhurried enough that people have time to be interested in
others. Food for thought, and certainly a contrast to the urban rudeness
that has unfortunately become a daily part of life home in Austin.
We had a very nice farewell dinner. One of the most interesting aspects of going on a tour is being brought together with others who share your interests but may have very different life experiences. One of our intrepid van drivers during this week was a supernice guy named Ron Nigrini. Although he was very modest about it, it turned out that Ron is an accomplished singer-songwriter in Canada. He was persuaded to sing and gave us a haunting a cappella version of "Powder River," a song he had written about Custer. As always on a tour, we had all shared a lot of fun and hardships together, and it was bittersweet to say goodbye.
August 16, 2005: One for the Money
I used to read a lot of mystery novels, but I don't seek them out as often as I used to. Many of the series I really loved (my favorite was Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn-Chee series) have grown old and stale, and I haven't found new ones that gripped me in the same way. I also found that 9-11 changed my enjoyment of mysteries. All of the sudden, murder and grief didn't seem so suitable as subjects for light entertainment.
Nonetheless, one sometimes needs a book to clear the palate after a heavy read. Before Christmas I picked up One for the Money by Janet Evanovich at a used book sale, and I finally got around to reading it. I'm a real latecomer to Evanovich; I understand she's up to #11 now in this series, featuring Stephanie Plum, a wacky skip-trace investigator in Trenton, New Jersey.
I found a lot to like about One for the Money. It's well-crafted and funny with lots of excitement and even some romantic hijinks. It would make a perfect read for a plane ride or a wait in a hospital waiting room, where you need a distraction but can't concentrate on a complicated plot or serious themes. I would pick up another Evanovich book to amuse me for a few hours under those kinds of circumstances.
However, I find that my 9-11 blues still haunt me. The crimes that Stephanie encounters are extremely serious. They include rape, sexual sadism, car bombings, and multiple murder. Sometimes I wonder what makes us call such fare "escapist." Maybe it's because of the fact that in this alternate universe, no one truly suffers, at least not "on screen"; no one grieves; and there's nothing that can't be fixed by a good night's sleep and a slice of Pino's Pizza. Would that real-life wounds could be so easily healed.
August 11, 2005: Lolo Pass, Devoto Groves, the Lolo Trail, the Smoking Place, and Lolo Hot Springs
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Mary at Devoto Groves |
Today was really the climax of our trip to Montana. Heading out from Missoula
for the day, we drove for a long ways through beautiful scenery. We hadn't
seen many animals on the trip, but today we saw some deer and a baby moose!
At Lolo
Pass, we saw a very nice plaque honoring Stephen Ambrose, author of
Undaunted
Courage as well as many other great books. We also stopped at the
lovely Packer
Meadows and Devoto Groves, a beautiful and serene stand of old-growth
trees where the historian Bernard Devoto stayed while he edited his famous
edition of the Lewis
& Clark Journals. This area is one of the most remote and wild areas
remaining in the United States.
The big event of the day was a trip up into the mountains to see where Lewis
& Clark suffered their life-threatening ordeal in the crossing of the
Bitterroots. We turned down a dirt path and picked up a talkative Forest
Service ranger named Norm who had worked in the Lolo Trail area for 50 years.
We drove over extremely steep roads, climbing ever higher into the sky.
As on the day we visited Lemhi Pass, this was another time we were grateful
to have a steel-nerved driver operating a four-wheel drive vehicle! The
views of trees and mountains were amazing. Norm told us about a 1910
fire that had devastated the area. The horrible toll taken by this fire
shaped Forest Service policy on supressing wildfires for decades to come.
We learned from Norm that this particular area has been designated historic
and will never be subject to logging.
We devanned at a place called Saddle Camp, where we learned about more about
the Lolo Trail, which was
used for centuries by the Indians before L&C. Chief
Joseph and the Nez Perce fled over this trail in their final ordeal
in 1877. It was amazing to think about following in the footsteps of thousands
of native people.
We then took a hike through 2.5 miles of great wooded countryside. It was
a hot summer day, not snowy and cold as it was when Lewis and Clark passed
this way. The hike was difficult going for a slug like me, especially with
the altitude and heat, but I perservered. If nothing else, we gained a new
appreciation for L&C, who sometimes walked 35 miles a day!
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The Smoking Place |
The hike ended up at a stupendous overlook called the Smoking
Place, where Lewis smoked the peace pipe with the Indians. Dined on
subs and all the accoutrements. We were back on the road all too soon. I
wish we could have hung around all afternoon to soak up the view and our
accomplishment.
The way out was really hair-raising! The road down was very bad and rough,
not to mention extremely dusty. We heard a loud bang and sure enough one
of our rear tires was demolished. Another van suffered the same fate. Most
of us milled around in the shade, sharing bug spray, eating wild huckleberries,
and discussing the Donner Party while the History America studs changed
the tires. It was great when we finally got back to paved road!
The last stop of the very long day was Lolo
Hot Springs, where the Indians used to take the baths and where the
Expedition camped on both the outbound and homeward legs of the journey.
It looked like it might be fun to stay at the hotel on the spot today and
swim in the springs. We partook liberally of the well-stocked gift shop.
Back in Missoula, tired and covered with dust, we enjoyed a relaxing dinner
at a neat restaurant called the Hob Nob. I got a salmon burger and sweet
potato french fries. Highly recommended!
August 9, 2005: Tower Creek, Lost Trail Pass, Traveler's Rest, and Council Groves
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Liz at Tower Creek |
Lots of driving today. Our first stop was at Tower Creek where we saw some great rock formations that Clark compared to pyramids. It was a mark of how comfortable (and maybe a little punchy) we all were by this point in the trip that Gary Moulton invited us to compare the formations to "kitties, doggies, and horsies." Gary has a great sense of humor as well as an encylopedic knowledge of all things L&C. For example, we learned from him that Lewis and Clark only ever disagreed about three things:
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Lewis developed a taste for dog meat on the trail, whereas Clark hated it
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Lewis liked salt on his food while Clark didn't care about it
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Lewis liked quiche and Clark didn't
We took a long and very scenic drive to Lost
Trail Pass (not a Lewis & Clark name for the area). It was in this
area that Clark and the Indian guide Old Toby tried but failed to find a
way through the mountains using the Salmon River. For us, the most notable
thing about our visit was that a serious forest fire was underway. (This
was in Summer 2003.) We had to be escorted in by a "pilot car,"
whic keeps visitors from wandering off into the fire area. We saw firefighters
who looked dirty and extremely weary, and passed a fire camp with their
tents. Park buildings wrapped in something tht looked like aluminum foil
to try to protect them if the blaze came that way. Through out the trip,
we had seen haze from the huge fire at Glacier and several other forest
fires, but this was the closest we got to an actual fire.
After leaving Lost Trail Pass, we stopped at a delightful shop and picnic
area where we had a great catered lunch. The desserts included a cake decorated
with the Lewis & Clark Trail and huckleberry taffy. (Huckleberries taste
great and are a big deal in Montana.) I wish I could remember exactly where
this was so I could steer more business their way!
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Forest fire protection at a rest stop at Lost Trail Pass |
View of the mountain pass from Council Grove outside Missoula |
Another long drive took us to Traveler's
Rest, a traditional rest stop for centuries by the Indians. L&C
camped here both before their crossing of the mountains in 1805 and after
crossing back in 1806. Our visit was extremely hot but interesting. We learned
some about the historical archealogy that had discovered the site where
the party made musket balls and where their latrines were! It seems that
traces of mercury from "Rush's Thunderclappers," the expedition's
cure-all pills, were still present in the soil.
The final stop of the day was a beautiful overlook called Council
Grove where we got a great view of the mountains through which the party
passed. The property owner was raising llamas.
At the hotel at Missoula, we had a talk by Joe Mussulman, who runs the great
Discovering Lewis & Clark
website. He spoke to us about the music of the expedition. Frankly, we were
tired and really in no mood to hear about it, but there is much to discover
on the website about this and many other topics. We enjoyed a dinner on
our own at a local Mexican joint called El Cazador, which was pretty good
considering how far we were from Texas and Mexico! Missoula has a neat downtown
with thriving shops and restaurants. It was nice to get away on our own
for a few hours.
August 5, 2005: Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History
I recently finished reading Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History, a 1974 potboiler biography by Fawn M. Brodie. This book created a furor when it first came out, because it was the first life of Jefferson to take seriously the idea that he had a long-term relationship -- and a number of children -- with his slave Sally Hemings.
Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings was widely speculated about during his lifetime. During Jefferson's presidency in 1802, rogue journalist James Callender published a series of articles that blew the scandal wide open and inspired the following piece of doggerel, set to the tune of "Yankee Doodle:"
Of all the damsels on the green,
On mountain, or in valley,
A lass so luscious ne'er was seen,
As Monticellian Sally.Yankee Doodle, who's the noodle?
What wife were half so handy?
To breed a flock of slaves for stock,
The blackamoor's the dandy.
Callender's information came from rumors and speculation by Jefferson's neighbors, who had long noticed the resemblance between Sally Hemings' children and the Sage of Monticello. While embarrassed by the revelation, Jefferson was able to weather the storm by simply saying nothing. In fact, in all the voluminous correspondence he left behind, he left not one statement, not even in his private journals, that directly confirmed his relationship with Sally Hemings -- an omission that has enabled his defenders to claim the love affair never happened. Sally Hemings has likewise come down through history utterly silent. Though she was literate, no letters exist that she either wrote or received.
Brodie pieced together the story through largely speculative methods, though she did rely on direct testimony from a source ignored by previous historians -- Monticello's slaves. When Brodie's book came out, her matter-of-fact assertion that Jefferson fathered six children with Hemings over the course of twenty years set off a firestorm of denial within the Jefferson historical establishment that raged for years.
Enter modern technology. In 1998, a team of geneticists compared DNA from descendants of Jefferson's paternal uncle, Field Jefferson, and descendants of Eston Hemings, Sally's youngest son. They concluded that there was a strong possibility that Thomas Jefferson was Eston's father.
Fawn Brodie would have enjoyed the vindication. No stranger to controversy, she specialized in writing biographies that were heavy on speculative research and dubious psychoanalysis. Born in Utah in 1915 to a well-to-do Mormon family, Brodie earned an M.A. in English from the University of Chicago at age twenty. Her first biography was a life of Mormon founder Joseph Smith called No Man Knows My History. In this work, Brodie essentially asserted that Smith was a charismatic charlatan who did a great job selling his Mormon ideology to gullible believers. Compared to the abuse she got from the Mormon community over this book, the controversy surrounding her Jefferson biography was tame. Brodie died in 1981, too soon to see scientific research prove her right about the love between about "Tall Tom" and "Dusky Sally."
August 3, 2005: Lewis and Clark among the Indians
Lewis and Clark among the Indians by James P. Ronda is one of the most respected books in the L&C literature. It is not a general history of the expedition, but instead focuses entirely on Indian relations of the Expedition, explaining not only L&C's responsibilities, actions, and mistakes in dealing with the native people they encountered, but also on the motivations and views of the Indians. As Ronda notes, establishing good relations with the Indians was one of the main responsibilities of the Expedition from the start:
Lewis and Clark always understood that they were more than mere travelers making a grand western tour at government expense. They went west as diplomats and agents of an American empire. Proclaiming United States sovereignty, establishing intertribal peace, and promoting trade with American merchants were unchanging objects of the expedition.
The most interesting aspect of the book for me was the discussion of Lewis and Clark as ethnographers (or recorders of primary data about native American life). Several members of the Expedition made particularly valuable notes on the lifestyles of the Indians they met. Sergeant John Ordway had a talent for recording homey details that give us a glimpse into a long-vanished world of Indians at the moment of first contact with whites. Sergeant Patrick Gass, a carpenter, perceptively described the houses of the Indians. William Clark gravitated instinctively toward political analysis, grasping who the leadership was and how Indian power politics worked. It's not surprising he later proved so talented as a diplomat managing Indian affairs in the West long after the Expedition.
But it was Meriwether Lewis who emerged as the premier ethnographer of the Expedition. Ronda writes that Lewis had "the naturalist's ability to describe objects with almost photographic fidelity. Lewis brought to ethnography the practiced eye of one who delighted in describing and cataloging the creatures of the natural world." Food, clothing, cooking utensils, weapons all caught Lewis's eye and were recorded, and often drawn, in painstaking detail. "Lewis's essays represent a substantial achievement in the history of ethnography. They reflect his keen powers of observation and a remarkable ability to bring objects alive with words."
Thankfully, Ronda steers clear of political correctness, refusing to portray the Indians as saintly victims or L&C as the vanguard of American imperialism. Instead he writes that in spite of some mistakes and shortcomings, "For most of the journey there was mutual respect born of expediency. That respect and friendship was genuine nonetheless. Lewis and Clark left behind among many Indians a legacy of nonviolent contact. Those who came later enjoyed that legacy and too often betrayed it."
Lewis and Clark among the Indians is academic history at its finest. The research is fresh, measured, and dispassionate. As such it will appeal to those readers with a particular interest in the topic. It's worth noting that Ronda sets a goal in the introduction of avoiding the themes of "high adventure, national triumph, and male courage." One sometimes senses that he bends over backwards to drain excitement and humor from the narrative. The result is an excellent and valuable book, but one that appeals to the head, not the heart.
August 1, 2005: Clark's Lookout, Camp Fortunate, Lemhi Pass, and the Salmon River
Lemhi Pass |
Rafting on the Salmon River |
Happy Birthday, Clark!
Our first stop out of Dillon today was Clark's Lookout, a cliff overlooking some beautiful country. On this spot, William Clark did some scouting during the period of the journey in which he was bringing the boats up a very difficult passage of the Missouri while Lewis and several others went ahead to try to make contact with the Shoshones. This spot was memorable for us because Mary lost her glasses, a fact she did not notice until our next stop. Our tour guides were rather unsympathetic, a common reaction from people who do not depend on glasses--for those of us who are practically blind it is a real crisis! Gary Moulton swung into action. Our hero insisted that we call back to the hotel in Dillon and ask if someone could go take a look for Mary's glasses. The great folks at the Best Western Paradise Inn actually sent somebody out there and found them to Mary's immense relief. They mailed them back to Austin for her and she was a "cool cat" for the rest of our Lewis and Clark trip in her prescription sunglasses. I would definitely stay at this hotel the next time I'm in Dillon!
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Mary at Camp Fortunate |
We proceeded on to Camp
Fortunate, a spectacularly beautiful site overlooking the river, a big
island, and countryside. This was the spot where Lewis met the Indians who
would help the Corps get the horses they needed to cross the mountains,
and where Sacagawea was reunited with her family. The Corps of Discovery
camped here during their stay with the Shoshones. Today the site is completely
changed due to the Clark Canyon Reservoir, and possesses an otherworldly
beauty that looks like a scene from "Lord of the Rings."
One of the most exciting parts of the trip came next. We traveled for miles
up a steep unpaved road, very scary and not to be attempted in a rent car
or anything other than a rugged four-wheel drive vehicle (with a confident
driver!). This is the area known as Lemhi
Pass, where the party crossed the continental divide. At the top we
got to stand astride the tiny stream that is the source of the mighty Missouri
River. It was amazing to get to explore this area a little and realized
that here on the border of Montana and Idaho was the dividing line of the
continent. When L&C walked across this pass they set the course for
manifest destiny. American (and world) history would never be the same.
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Mary and Liz bestriding the headwaters of the "mighty and heretofore deemed endless" Missouri |
It was here that Lewis and Clark realized that their dream of an easy passage
over the mountains was illusory. They had hoped to find the Rocky Mountains
analogous to the Appalachians, mountain ranges that each of them had crossed
many times. But instead of rolling hills and gentle rivers, they found towering
mountain ranges and whitewater rapids. They had thought the portage and
the trip up the Missouri to the Divide was bad, but the trek over the mountains
would test them in ways they had never imagined.
After a picnic lunch, we headed out for the other big event of the day,
a raft ride on the Salmon
River. Clark scouted the river in hopes of finding a water route through
the mountains but soon concluded that it was impossible. We saw some of
the most gorgeous scenery on the planet and went over some (small) rapids.
We were on the river for a couple of hours so we got a good chance to experience
it, and we got pretty wet! The river guide told us some interesting stories
about the river and its management or lack thereof by the federal government.
We stayed at the Stagecoach Inn, a quaint motel in Salmon, Idaho, with barrels
of flowers outside each door and the Salmon River running right outside!
Had trout and great potatoes at a nearby restaurant. I would like to return
here someday.
One note is that if anyone reading this is thinking of following our itinerary, this was way too much to have done in one day. If I were traveling on my own instead of with a tour, I would split Lemhi Pass and the Salmon River over two days and have more time to enjoy each.